Population growth and several droughts in the late 1990s and early 2000s led to more concern over Texas's water supply. Debate over the issue typically finds landowners on one side, environmentalists on the other. Environmental groups support restrictions on water pumping and water use, because droughts proved the risk of a low water supply, and because of the risk ...

This week in the Texas Weekly Newsreel: Only a few days are left in the 83rd legislative session and everything is up in the air — including whether lawmakers will come back for more when the session ends on Monday.

The State of Texas is asking the U.S. State Department for help resolving a long-running dispute between Texas and Mexico over water from several rivers — a dispute made more urgent by the long drought.

It's shaping up to be another difficult summer for the Texas power grid. A national nonprofit has projected that the Texas grid will have the lowest percentage of power reserves this summer of any region of the country. Next summer could also be tougher than the grid operator currently projects.

Texas’ drought and water-supply problems have captured headlines, and lawmakers appear poised to take action on funding water projects. But with the state’s rapid population growth projected to continue, other infrastructure problems also loom, including clogged roads and a strained power grid.

For this week's nonscientific survey of insiders in government and politics, we asked about the likelihood of special sessions, the issues that might force them and whether there will be multiple such sessions.

In the latest Texas Weekly Newsreel: With less than three weeks left in the legislative session, the deadlines are coming fast and furious, raising the stakes for negotiators on the budget, water, transportation, tax cuts and the Rainy Day Fund and prompting whispers of a special session if things don't get finished.

At Thursday's TribLive conversation, state Reps. Matt Krause, R-Fort Worth; Jonathan Stickland, R-Bedford; and Steve Toth, R-The Woodlands, explained their objection to dipping into the Rainy Day Fund to jump-start the state water plan.

On the latest Agenda Texas,from KUT News and the Tribune: Water, transportation and education were priorities at the beginning of this year's legislative session, but how much progress has been made on each?

Groundwater levels in Texas dropped considerably between 2010 and 2011, according to a report published recently by the Texas Water Development Board, with serious declines in the Ogallala and other major aquifers. Figures from 2011-12 are also expected to show declines.

On the latest Agenda Texas,from KUT News and the Tribune: Only about 20 percent of bills filed during a legislative session make it to the governor's desk — and the deadlines that kill off many of those bills are coming this week.

The legislative session is in its last month and most bills will die. But setbacks for the big stuff — water, transportation and the like — are usually temporary. Lawmakers love to take things to the brink of legislative death and then revive them. Then they go home to their districts to recount their fantastic and ingenious rescues of vital bills.

In the latest Newsreel: The House fights over whether and how to tap the Rainy Day Fund, lawmakers hold hearings on the explosion in West and Gov. Rick Perry says there is plenty of time left in this session to get things done.

The best way to finance Texas' pressing water and transportation needs — and to supplement spending on public education — is to let voters decide whether to use the state's Rainy Day Fund. The Senate has approved a proposal that would accomplish that; now it's up to the House.

The day after the leading measure to fund state water projects stumbled in the House, legislators shifted their focus to a bill that members of the House Democratic Caucus hope will also include money for education. Democrats say water is still a priority, just not their first or only one.

UPDATED: The morning after a major bill to authorize spending billions of dollars on state water projects faltered in the House, Speaker Joe Straus' office released a statement saying he wouldn't "let a technicality seal the debate on water."

The rough seas that sank the Texas House's attempt to fund the state water plan on Monday night with a $2 billion draw on the Rainy Day Fund highlighted the limits of consensus on both how to pay for water development and whether it's a top priority.

On Monday, as the Texas House prepared to debate House Bill 11 — which would allow for a one-time $2 billion draw from the state's Rainy Day Fund for water infrastructure needs — Gov. Rick Perry talked about his support for that measure and the possibility of a special session.

A bill that would draw $2 billion for water projects from the Rainy Day Fund is set to hit the House floor Monday afternoon. The debate could turn to focus on what it means to be a fiscal conservative in the Tea Party era. As some conservative activists are urging supporters to express opposition to the bill, Gov. Rick Perry has voiced his support for the measure.

At our 4/26 Hot Seat conversation at Southwestern University in Georgetown, state Rep. Marsha Farney, R-Georgetown, and state Sen. Charles Schwertner, R-Georgetown, talked about public education, water, the budget and other issues in play in the 83rd session.

If current drought conditions persist, farmers in Willacy and Hidalgo counties who receive water from the Delta Lake Irrigation District in South Texas will have to look for other options in June. And a continuing battle over a decades-old treaty between the U.S. and Mexico has only added to the water woes.